Rain
by D.F. Twinkie
Summary: Rain, a murder victim, and an annoying writer. Set in early S3. Co-written by fialka62, JillianCasey, DefenderofHelplessSemicolons, and wig257.


Kate watched the rain slide down her trench coat. It was chilly, dark, but she didn't much care. Her hands were frozen and a little stiff, but she reached her finger out anyway and caught one of the falling drops. It stayed there for a second, quivering, and then fell onto the pavement.

Across the street, Esposito and Ryan bent over the car, which was sprawled half-over the curb. There was a hole in the lining of her coat pocket. She kept fingering it. If he were standing here, he'd make some comment about her packing extra heat, or maybe just one of those hand warmers.

She turned her mind to business and strode across the street, kicking up rain.

"What've we got?" Kate asked.

Esposito held up a driver's license. The wallet had been on the passenger side. It was covered in blood. Everything inside the car was covered in blood.

Esposito was just about to explain the situation when they heard a sound. It came from where Kate was previously positioned over the road—a crash of bins, maybe? She turned and drew her gun, glancing at Ryan and Esposito before she made her way back across the road.

Kate edged towards the fallen bins. Had they been like that before? She couldn't remember. Behind her, she could hear Esposito and Ryan following and made a mental note that they all needed quieter shoes.

"Hands in the air!" she shouted. "Hands up now!"

The boys took up the refrain till there was nothing but a confusing cacophony of voices echoing in the alley. Behind the bins, something slowly stirred.

"You want to frisk me too?"

Kate lowered her gun and glared. "What the hell, Castle?"

He smiled impishly. "I'm serious, Detective. My hands are raised. I'm being a good boy."

"What are you rooting around over here for?"

Castle shrugged. "Just trying to get a new view. Plus I saw something shiny. Look, it's—"

"Don't touch that," Kate ordered.

It was a pistol. But when Kate edged past Castle and picked it up with a glove, she saw it had an orange tip.

"It looked significant!"

"Uh-huh." Kate tossed what was clearly a child's toy into an evidence bag just in case and started back to the car. Castle hovered behind her as she leans in. Not close, like he used to. He'd been giving her a bit more space ever since he came back.

"There's too much blood in here," Kate said. It's a gut feeling, something CSU would have to confirm. But the victim clearly wasn't killed here.

Esposito appeared at Kate's side. "White female, thirty-six. Her licence says she lived on Baker."

"So what's she doing all the way over here?" Kate asked, more to the dead woman than Esposito.

"She appears to have been stabbed, but we'll have to get that confirmed," Ryan interjected.

Esposito pointed to the large butcher knife poking out of the woman's chest. "I think we could call that a confirmation." He fished his cell out of his pocket, calling for more confirmation, just in case.

Kate smirked at him. "You're calling Lanie then, Esposito?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. I figured you were busy."

Kate lifted an eyebrow. "Busy?"

Esposito nodded over her shoulder. "Castle found something else shiny."

Kate whipped around, saw what Castle was doing and groaned. "I have to start keeping him on a leash," she muttered as she started toward him.

He'd climbed on top of a dumpster stacked high with trash no one bothered to put inside. "I found it!" he yelled.

"Found what?" Kate's exasperated, and more than a little tempted to yank on his pants leg and pull him down.

"The other murder weapon." Rising from a crouch, he held a .45 in a gloved hand.

"Put it down!" she ordered.

CSU came over to take pictures. After they secured the gun, they found it was missing three bullets.

"So where are the other three? Or should I say, in whom are the other three?" Castle waggled his eyebrows and Kate sighed.

Castle was still standing on top of the dumpster, surveying the scene. He was clearly thinking about making a joke, maybe saying something about being the king of the castle, but wisely thought better of it when he saw the expression on Kate's face. She turned away from him towards Ryan and Esposito.

"Bag her hands and let's see what else is in the car."

The boys were just turning to obey her orders when they all heard a mighty crash and bang behind them.

Kate didn''t turn around. "He's fallen into the dumpster, hasn't he?" she asked Esposito.

"That," he answered, "would be an affirmative."

Kate barely managed to hide her smirk as she kept moving towards the car. There would be at least five minutes of peace before he could struggle his way out.

All in all, a fitting welcome back for the guy who'd ignored them all for the last four months.


End file.
